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John A. G. Walker owned a 1,000-acre (400 ha) plantation in Chester County. After Walker died in the 1870s, his widow wanted a town built, which would be named Walkerville. She offered the Chester and Cheraw Railroad land to build a line through the proposed town, which they did. The Walkers' daughter married a Dr. Fort, who had a large home with a lawn next to the railroad. The story is that the railroad's conductor would say, "Everybody off for Fort's Lawn!"[5]

After Southern Power built a dam in 1907, the nearby town of Great Falls saw considerably more growth than Fort Lawn. In 1959, area leaders worked to attract industry, and over the next three years, companies including Springs Industries spent $18 million.[5]

As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 864 people, 326 households, and 227 families residing in the town. The population density was 626.0 inhabitants per square mile (241.7/km2). There were 348 housing units at an average density of 252.1 per square mile (97.3/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 67.13% White, 30.44% African American, 1.04% Native American, 0.23% Asian, 0.69% from other races, and 0.46% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.39% of the population.

There were 326 households, of which 38.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.1% were married couples living together, 21.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.1% were non-families. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65, and the average family size was 3.14.

In the town, the population was spread out with 29.3% under the age of 18, 11.3% from 18 to 24, 33.3% from 25 to 44, 19.1% from 45 to 64, and 6.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.3 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $35,694, and the median income for a family was $36,042. Males had a median income of $30,882 versus $20,813 for females. The per capita income for the town was $14,463. About 15.6% of families and 15.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.8% of those under age 18 and 25.7% of those age 65 or over.